Something to be proud of, I suppose — you do what most people don’t want and still get to keep your job.

From the New York Times, “A record 82 percent of Americans now disapprove of the way Congress is handling its job — the most since The Times first began asking the question in 1977, and even more than after another political stalemate led to a shutdown of the federal government in 1995.”

They could spin the disapproval away (“If people get angry because I stand up for the principles that made America strong, then so be it”) but they don’t even need to do that. They can just ignore it. A politician doesn’t need anybody’s approval, she only needs the vote, and you can buy the vote when necessary by spending lobbyist money to broadcast advertisements disparaging your opponent — that is, if you even have a real one. We lack the social cohesiveness to organize against a broken government.